In a sweeping victory of winning 349 Electoral College votes he has been elected the first Afro-American president of the USA. He addressed the overjoyed crowd of supporters by saying “It’s been a long time coming, but tonight change has come to America”. His rival republican candidate John McCain acknowledged his defeat graciously, saying “I deeply admire and commend Mr. Obama”.
Several states reported a very high voter’s turnout, more than for any election since 1960. Obama will take over the presidential office in 75 days but he has been preparing for it for 10 weeks now, relying on two experienced members of the Clinton cabinet.
(Source: MTI)
Simultaneously elections have been held for all seats in the House of Representatives and one-third of the seats in the Senate. Eleven state Governors have also been elected. For the first time in 15 years a Democrat president is supported by Democratic majority in both houses of the US Congress.
In the Senate Democrats have 54 seats compared to the 40 of the Republicans although Democrats failed to grab the 60 seats needed for absolute majority, which would have resulted in the Republican not being able to block legislation. In the House of Representatives the Democrats already have the 218 seats needed for a majority and there still results coming in. Obama intends to keep Robert Gates present Republican Defence Minister mostly because that would help to speed up the withdrawal of American troops from Iraq.
Vocabulary:
- campaign – kampány
- sweeping victory – elsöprő győzelem
- overjoyed – ujjongó
- rival – ellenfél, rivális
- to acknowledge – bevall, beismer
- graciously – kegyesen
- voter’s turnout – szavazói részvétel
- majority – többség
- legislation – törvényhozás
- withdrawal – kivonás (itt: csapatkivonás)
